BEIRUT, 24 September 2005 — Lebanese President Emile Lahoud roundly rejected yesterday a call from Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to quit as tensions mounted in the corridors of power over the murder of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
The pro-Syrian Lahoud is under pressure to stand down following the arrest of four of his top security aides over the February bomb blast that killed Hariri and is widely blamed on the regime in Damascus and its allies in Beirut.
But Siniora’s call has highlighted the uneasy political cohabitation between the Maronite Christian head of state and his Sunni Muslim prime minister, who heads an anti-Damascus coalition in Parliament.
“Breakdown in cohabitation between the president and prime minister,” was the front-page headline on the Beirut newspaper Al-Balad. “When the prime minister, who represents an elected parliamentary majority, publicly recommends the president’s resignation, this must be understood for what it is: another nail in the coffin of this presidency,” added the English-language Daily Star. But Lahoud, whose term in office was controversially extended last year under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment that drew domestic and international criticism, remained defiant.
“There is nothing to justify Lahoud tendering his resignation,” his office said in a statement. “Lahoud will stay loyal to his oath and is determined to stay to the end of his mandate (in November 2007).”
